Exchanging Education
by Sierra-Falls
Summary: In the beginning, there was the Unnamed Master. Then, the 'Feral One' met his Heir. Now? One of Ranma's village travels to new lands on a new scholarship. Destination? The Academy of the Konoha. The Student? Ferrous, of Unnamed village. Woe is them.
1. Dire Traveling Questions

A.N. Ooh I'm evil. For those of you who're reading UM, there will be spoilers! You have been warned! I've been kicking this idea around in my head for a while now, and just had to get it down in word format. Its another weird cross almost on par with UM's Ranma and Pokemon. Hope it works.  
  
I'm messing around with dimensions, but I'm not explaining it now. Lets just say they're connected by a small thread *snickers at the reference*. Again, read only if you want to know what will eventually happen in the UM timeline.   
  
Exchanging Education: Chapter 1  
  
"Ne, Ash-kun?" A voice piped up suddenly.  
  
Of the two figures walking down a medium sized road in the lush forest, the smaller one had turned to the larger with hopeful brown eyes begging for attention. With spring just barely starting to wane, the sunlight that pierced sparsely through the trees to dot the undergrowth was still warm and changed the normally brooding primeval forest into a wonderland rimed with emerald and thick velvet mosses.  
  
The warm tenor of the larger figure replied in tones that indicated a teasing male.  
  
"Please don't tell me you're going to ask 'Are we there yet' when we're only two days out of the village, Ferrous-chan."  
  
The now named girl hurried to assure her crush, that no, she wasn't going to act to immature in front of him.  
  
"No, no, I just wanted to know something."  
  
At his inquisitive look, the 12 year old Ferrous patted a belt slung around her hips that held three tiny suspicious spheres for emphasis.  
  
"Why can't I keep my friends with me when I get to Konoha, Ash?"  
  
Maintaining his measured ground-eating pace, Ash held his chin between thumb and index finger, trying to find how to put things so his companion would understand. Being eighteen, Ash could still easily remember how he hated being talked down to as a kid and didn't want to put off his friend.  
  
"What do you know of the school you're going to, Ferrous?"  
  
The girl frowled gently and lowered her head in thought. Dark blue green bangs swept over her eyes to shield her thoughts. Why would her sempai answer her question with a question?  
  
"Only that mother said it was in a place where she had her family, and that the school was kinda like the gym at home... Only..."  
  
Ash reached over and ruffled her bobbed hair in jest as he prompted, "Only?"  
  
She ducked out of his reach with a small indignant huff.  
  
"Only that they taught people there, and not pokemon."  
  
"Know why they don't teach pokemon?"  
  
The girl shook her head in negation, setting the blue-green hair swirling around her head, her heritage from her father. The brown eyes that peeped up at Ranma-sama's son and heir were also from her father's side of the family, but the small gold ring around her irises were a gift from her mother.  
  
"It's 'cause they don't have pokemon that far to the east. You have to remember your geography, Ferrous-chan. There's only a small isthmus between our countries, and for over half the year, its covered with water. I bet not many species were able to migrate over, and what few that did were either hunted to extinction, or could not get their needs met in order to thrive. You know how certain pokemon have specifics that need to be met, right?"  
  
"Kinda like Arashi will only eat the herbs, and the rest of his clan will eat the poisonous stuff?"  
  
Ash nodded, and a lock of his spiky raven hair fell into his own brown eyes. He absently pushed his unruly hair back.  
  
His first fourteen years of life were spent never knowing his father, but his mom often told him he got his looks from the mysterious figure. After Ash met him four years ago, the 18 year old now knew who to blame the wild hair genetics on.  
  
At first, Ash had mixed feelings about finally reuniting with his father, but now, almost half a decade later, he was quite happy with their new relationship.  
  
Ranma was definitely not what he expected. Throughout most of his life, Ash had grown up on tales of pokemon, gyms, badges, and the prestige that comes with the flair of battle. Among those tales, one gym was whispered about in the hushed tones reserved for legends.   
  
The unnamed, unfound, mysterious and imposing gym. Said to be located in the wilds that bordered the Amazon lands, the gym and its enigmatic leader was supposed to have the most rigorous and successful program on the entire continent. Only those who were truly dedicated to pokemon and a forgotten art were able to find this gym, and the graduates who claimed its seal of approval usually shot to the top of whatever tournament they chose to enter.  
  
Some people scoffed at these tales, and others vilified the gym leader since it was also said he had ties to that infamous Team Rocket. As a child, Ash had decided to reserve judgement until he could find out for himself.   
  
His mom, Delia Ketchum, wholly supported his dreams, and he sometimes wondered why, but not enough to ask. The one time he did, she got such a hurting wistful look in her eyes that he immediately changed the subject. And never questioned her again.  
  
All this brings him back to his immediate future. Walking along a road in a forest with one of the sweetest imps ever to grace the earth.   
  
Ferrous was one of the children from the village that had sprung up around his father's gym. The daughter of Ranma's childhood friends Tor Che and Plia Rah, Ferrous had the dubious title of being Ranma's goddaughter, and in Ash's mind, made her as close to a sibling as was possible.   
  
Which irritated the imp to no end, since she had designs on the handsome young pokemon trainer herself. Ash knew she had developed a light attachment to him, but he always made sure to act appropriately.   
  
Currently, he was escorting his 'adopted' sister to her new destination, some country on the next continent, known only as the Kage lands. Ferrous was to stay with some distant family in an effort to learn more about this odd land. In a scholarship that was to last for three years, Ferrous would attend an Academy for fighters in the Hidden Village of the Leaf.   
  
Ash was given the only info that was known of the Kage lands, and the task of safely delivering his imouto-chan to her cousins. To that end, he had chosen several of his strongest pokemon, and was armed with four years of  
  
crash course martial training from his father.  
  
Ferrous too, had her three pokemon to help with the trip, but she was supposed to relinquish them to Ash at the journey's end, which was what she was protesting.  
  
Why only three, one might ask? It was simple policy in the Unnamed Village that children under fourteen maintain that number so that they could prove their responsibility. In their village, pokemon were not looked upon as pets or tools. They were friends, partners, companions, but never owned and never abused.   
  
Abusing pokemon carried heavy penalties in Unnamed since its founding principles were on the equality and respect of both humans and pokemon.  
  
At the moment, as the duo were only two days out from Unnamed village Ash and Ferrous were looking forward to visiting the wild Raichu clan that lived nearby.  
  
Partis, Ferrous's young pikachu had gone with Ash's to scout ahead and ensure their welcome among the wild clan. As electric rodents, all three of the species' evolutions can be easily startled, and it was better to avoid such a combined shock. Ash would only be mildly stunned, as he could withstand quite a lot of electricity, thanks to his years with a temperamental pikachu, but Ferrous usually lived in harmony with hers, and so was not used to the massive influx like Ash.   
  
Ash only gave a passing thought as to how his dad would have made out. Then he snorted. Ranma was a damned tank in some ways, and electricity happened to be one of his specialties.   
  
Ash snorted again as he shunted away thoughts of his father as he sensed Pikachu and Partis coming back.  
  
Rustling in the underbrush brought no tensed reactions from the humans, as they both were advanced enough to recognize their companions. The two yellow bodies that emerged quickly jumped to their usual favored positions.   
  
Pikachu on Ash's broad shoulder, and Partis laying halfway on Ferrous's head with her hind feet braced against the backpack. Pikachu chirped and 'pika-ed' his news to Ash and Ferrous nodded several times in agreement with several points.  
  
Another odd thing that set aside Unnamed village and gym was that because of the level of understanding between humans and pokemon, most human partners could understand the gist of what the pokemon were saying, even if the pokemon never learned to speak like a human, as a few rare cases could.  
  
At the moment, Pikachu was outlining the fact that one of the female Raichu in a prominent position in the clan had recently given birth, and the situation was a little touchy. Both Ash and Ferrous knew about mothers and their progeny, especially if it was a recent occurance.  
  
Partis piped up, saying that the pentethra would gladly meet them on the outskirts, since the 'feral one's' kit was doing the visiting.  
  
Ferrous just rolled her eyes with impatience at the politics of the wild while Ash was just bemused. Even after four years of this, he still could not get over the fact that they had politics, let alone that his dad's reputation guaranteed his son an emissary's welcome.  
  
Again alone with his thoughts, Ash paced in the direction that Pikachu had indicated while Ferrous reminisced with Partis.  
  
"Think of how cute the pichus would be. I remember when you were that small, Partis." The girl made teasing cooing noises while Partis wrinkled her button nose at the reminder.  
  
Partis was Ferrous's first pokemon friend. They had met when the girl had gotten lost outside the village and stumbled on a denning Raichu in the rain. Fairly sick with a cold, drenched and crying, Ferrous barely escaped a good zapping from the startled mother, but apparently she took pity on the drowned rat of a human that entered her den.  
  
The six year old Ferrous had gotten into a shouting match with her quick tempered father just before the storm had started, and both ended up storming away. Tor Che had gone to the gym to work out frustrations with Arashi, the healer Nidorino, and Ferrous had stomped into the forest looking for her favorite tree to hide in.  
  
Then it started to rain, and Ferrous went from angry, to wet, to miserable in short order. Then to add insult to injury, she found her tree missing its necessary first step climbing limb. Then she got lost.  
  
To this end, when the sea green haired child found the mini cave at the roots of another tree, she didn't hesitate on entering and huddled near the entrance to conserve warmth.  
  
Momma Raichu eventually chirred a greeting, and was rewarded with Ferrous jumping and hitting her head on the cubby's roof.  
  
Rubbing the knot and wincing, the six year old widened her eyes at the sight of the suspicious furry pichus behind the anxious yet caring mother.  
  
"Oh," the child eeped. "I'm sorry. Didn't think to look."  
  
Holding a hand to her nose to stifle an oncoming sneeze, chibi Ferrous turned to the falling rain and sighed before taking a step toward finding another hideout. After all, Ranma-sensei always said to be extra nice to a pokemon mother, and that most new mommies don't like visitors.  
  
The child's progress was hampered, however by a tug on the back of her shirt. Turning around, gold rimmed brown eyes met deep chocolatey eyes. Momma Raichu went "Rai, raira," and then a drawn out, soft "Chuuu".  
  
Ferrous, with a beginners understanding of the 'Chu' dialect as Ranma-sensei sometimes called it replied, and startled Momma Raichu.  
  
"Alright, I'll stay then if you're sure. When the rain stops, and if I don't tell anyone, can I come back? I know where some nice clover grows and I can bring you a bundle. Auntie Crescent's friend is a pikachu who says that they all like clover."  
  
Momma Raichu chirrs a question tentatively.  
  
"Yup, I can understand you. Ranma-sensei says that if you want to be friends with someone, then you generally have to understand what they're sayin'."  
  
Again a chirred question, but with a sharper tone.  
  
"Eh? Feral one? Not sure, but some of the pokemon at the gym will call him that when he's not around. No one tells me why though? Or what it means." The girl degenerated into typical six year old grumbling rants at being kept out of the loop as she slid back down into sitting Indian style.  
  
Ferrous only stopped when one of the more energetic pichus ran into her leg and fell on its backside. It had been running around in circles, got dizzy and encountered this new addition to its den.  
  
"Pich!" it demanded.  
  
Chuckling at the little kitling's imperious demand, Ferrous scooped it up after gaining visual permission from Mama Raichu.  
  
Thus began the friendship of Ferrous and the later named Partis. Partis spent about a year with her mother growing from a handful size to about a foot in height. The transfer of companionship from mother to friend occurred when Ferrous was seven, delighting her whole family, and garnering approval from her beloved godfather, Ranma-sensei.  
  
That auspicious year heralded several life changes for the little girl. She befriended two other pokemon who soon became a part of her family, and she found out that Ranma-sensei had a son, who'd be her new 'onii-san'.  
  
Ferrous was an only child, but she had plenty of cousins and aunts and uncles. Her father, Tor Che ran a department under the Renshah Goods corporation, but it was originally owned by her godfather. Her mother, Plia Rah, was a trainer who worked at Ranma's gym helping other pokemon and their friends get stronger along with Auntie Crescent and Auntie Cuttar.  
  
All was as sane and normal in her world (as could be with Ranma in tow, which means she had some insane adventures along the way) until she was twelve. Word was brought from the far reaches of the eastern forests of something new happening. One of the Kage lands had approved an experimental exchange program to deepen relations between the two continents.  
  
Guess who just got volunteered?  
  
While Ferrous was thrilled to be allowed to see new things, she still felt pangs of misgiving at what she was leaving behind. Her parents, her pokemon, her friends from the village, and the chance to compete in the village tournament when she turns fourteen.  
  
In Unnamed village, fourteen was one of those magical ages were several set restrictions would vanish. She would be allowed to keep more pokemon friends with her, compete in the tournament, challenge her chosen male for a marriage battle, legally duel for money or preset prizes, or even set out on her own pokemon journey.  
  
Instead of all that, she was trading it for an adventure into the unknown. Children of the Amazon lands could not legally set out on pokemon journeys until they were fourteen, but Ferrous wasn't going on a pokemon journey, and that was probably one of the main reasons she had agreed to go. She would be able to hold this over the other kids' heads when she got back.   
  
The Ferrous in the present once again reviewed her decision. Three years. Ugh, it was a long time. It would take over a month just to get to this 'Konoha' village. Which reminded her.  
  
Turning to her friend, crush, companion, escort, and self-proclaimed onii-chan, she adopted the uber-kawaii look that Ranma-sama taught her.  
  
Ash was shaken out of his reverie feeling an upwelling of dreaded cuteness. In an exaggerated motion, he turned his head slowly to face the firing squad.  
  
"Ash-kun?"  
  
Haltingly, "Y-yeah?"  
  
"Are we there yet?" 


	2. Picking Up Baggage

A.N. Well I must say, this wasn't as well received as UM. Oh well, I'm stubborn that way, which is why you get EE ch2. But don't worry though, by the time this hits the open web, UM 19 should be out. Enjoy both, will ya?

Exchanging Education: Chapter 2

"So, you think you'll miss all this, Ferrous? The deep forests, I mean?"

A question of such hidden depths deserves a moment to reflect. Especially since after two weeks, all subject matter that consisted of inane banter had long been used up. Pacing her larger companion, Ferrous kept her head lowered both in thought and to keep an eye out for sneaky roots that always love to trip her up when she's under her crush's scrutiny.

Taking a deep break, she replied, "Well, I'm sure it will take some getting used to, not having the huge trees about."

Still silent, Ash lent his unprying encouragement. Content with her 'space' Ferrous went on to sound out her thoughts on another person.

"Without these creaky old trees, it'll be harder to tree-hop like my friends and I normally do. I suppose their presence is comforting. Not having them around to listen to in the wind will be unsettling."

Ash took his chin in hand again, nicknamed 'The Thinker's Pose', and interjected.

"It may not be all doom and gloom yet, kiddo. The place you're going to is called the Hidden Village of the Leaf, and is supposed to be a very old respectable village. They wouldn't name it 'the Leaf' if there weren't any trees, would they?"

"Eh, I suppose..." Ferrous replied. She also sweat-dropped, since she's also heard of some places that were named after geographical features that were not to be found near the town.

"Oh, look ahead!" Good, he changed the subject.

"Huh?" was her oh-so-elegant response.

"I see the tree line. We should be crossing from primeval to recent woods soon, and a week will take us into the far eastern grasslands. From there, it should take a week and a half to reach the isthmus and we'll cross into the Fire Kage lands. Then, it'll take the rest of our travel time to reach Konoha."

Looking quite bored with the status of things in general and lectures on geography in specific, Ferrous 'humph-ed'.

"Tchya, keep doing that and you'll get wrinkles Ferr-chan," he teased.

The girl's scowl only deepened before she figured out that he was playing. Inwardly, she rejoiced in that the muscular teen had called her Ferr-CHAN and not imouto like usual.

Keeping her new glow of sunshine to herself, Ferrous allowed a light silence to fall comfortably on the travelers' shoulder for a few more hours.

In the end, it was Ash who broke first and started a conversation that would have a direct influence on her life for the next three years.

"Ferrous, I've been thinking about something..."

"Heh, don't hurt your head, Ash-kun."

Startled at the immediate comeback, Ash looked up and over at her.

"What'd I do to deserve that?" he asked in a semi-hurt tone.

Ferrous looked a little downcast that her joke wasn't appreciated. She tried to cover for her actions with a "It was too good to pass up on. You shouldn't leave openings like that, they'll get taken advantage of."

"What makes you the expert, then?"

"Ranma-sama taught that in second year gym training, and I was eight at the time."

A quiet 'oh' was her only reply for a few more minutes. Then Ash tried again.

"Speaking of oyaji, he asked me to propose a line of action to you before we left."

Ferrous kept her 'intrigued' face on until he kept speaking.

"You know how dad always says to keep most of your abilities a secret until they are needed, right?"

"Well yeah!" she says sarcastically, but piped down at another one of Ash's looks.

"Well, if you consider it this way, Ferr-chan, you are going into a very long-term battle. You are the representative of the whole of the pokemon lands, and everyone in Konoha will be looking at you to see what we're like."

Ferrous looked halfway between swallowing a lemon and getting a whiff from a noxious Grimer. She liked attention with the best of them, but being under such close scrutiny hadn't occurred to her before. And she wouldn't have her pokemon friends to back her up.

"Man, that's harsh."

Ash ruffled her hair again to show some empathy. As the winner of so many pokemon Leagues, he too was a pretty well watched fellow, but when other people found out that he was Unnamed Gym's heir... Lets just say it ain't pretty.

"Okay, so I should limit some of my normal activities Ash?"

"Not so much limit as moderate."

"How so?"

"Well, dad mentioned the Empathy Aura you had developed. He says that during the rest of our trip you should practice keeping your feeler vibes invisible. I think, and dad agreed, that you should by all means still utilize that technique, since its quite useful, but not to let anyone know you can do it. He also says to keep your martial arts and weapons combat to a minimum until you can assess the level the other kids are at. When in public you're to meet their standards, but don't limit yourself too much. Unnamed has its reputation too, yanno."

Ferrous went into thought about how to practice what was suggested. Ash only continued when her gold rimmed brown eyes lifted and met his own chocolatey brown.

"Dad also said that he noticed that all the messengers and diplomats used a different energy system that what Unnamed utilizes. Ki and chi were relatively unknown in our lands as it was, before dad got here, and they still are being kept under secrecy for the edge it gives our village."

"Uh-huh."

"Well, given that information, Dad thought you should also keep visible ki and chi to a minimum, and try to find a way to learn what they use. Perhaps incorporate it into the Anything Goes so you can bring it back. I know 'the almighty Ranma-sensei' will want to get some new tricks."

One can just HEAR the mischief dripping off Ash's description of his old man. It was an open fact that the Unnamed Gym leader was fascinated by and driven to master any new techniques that happened across his path. Since he no longer travels as extensively as in his youth, the still young gym leader would pump his returning students for new stuff and generally would master it within the month, if not that day or week.

"Hey, tonight is camp night, isn't it?" Ferrous asked, trying to change the subject so she can think about the ramifications this change would wrought.

"It's been three days, hasn't it? So yes, we can sleep tonight. Remember the last time you convinced me to go another day? You were so dead on your feet that we were only making half-time and you let those Spearows make off with a week's worth of rations."

Embarrassment, thy name is Ferrous.

-----

Thus, three further weeks passed with the two traveling in this manner. Running through the night and daylight hours for thee days and then resting on the eve of the third. A total of four weeks had passed since Ferrous and Ash started on their journey and the young preteen had made leaps and bounds on refining her empathy aura so that it was invisible to the naked eye and undetectable by most other senses.

Although resigned to trying to stay as anonymous as possible when it came to her abilities, Ferrous was also impatient when Ash revealed his father's incentive for maintaining a 'moderate' lifestyle while she was out of country.

For the longest time growing up, and when she was old enough to appreciate it, Ferrous had been pestering Ranma about a certain technique that had exploded his ki/chi control when he was about Ash's age and had lived a few years in the pokemon Amazon lands.

Few outside Unnamed even knew of the generalities of the technique or even what purpose it served, but the results could speak for themselves.

Ranma's ki/chi control was just this side of absolute, and he kept and exercised huge reservoirs of the stuff. Because of this, Ranma had also found a way to easily convert one into the other, and back again, which made almost infinite possibilities for the energy's utilization. But techniques of this magnitude were far in the future for Ferrous. All she wanted to learn now was just how Ranma-sama trained with weight resistance, with no weights in sight.

Ash finally caved to her insistent prods two days before they were scheduled to cross the isthmus and into the Kage lands. He felt that her using Ranma's method would help others further underestimate the girl, since it would, in effect reel in and diminish her battle aura.

Ferrous had declined the latter stages of battle aura development in lieu on enhancing her early warning system and Empathy aura effectiveness. To this end, her battle aura was a flashy lightshow with few benefits. Ranma's method would increase her natural protection, providing a semi-impermeable armor more useful than her weak battle aura.

That night was a designated sleep night and instead of pulling to the underbrush on the side of the road, Ash gestured ahead.

"In about fifteen minutes, imouto, we'll come upon a village where we will stay at the inn. This'll be our last stop where we can safely travel, and from here on we've got to keep a night watch."

While Ferrous looked happy at her imminent stay in a real bed, Partis, who had primarily remained quiet on the girl's shoulder sighed a mushroom puff. What the electric mouse's partner apparently didn't realize was that as soon as they stepped out of the pokemon lands, her first pokemon friend would have to go into the stupid travel ball.

Most pokemon who resided with humans normally got used to that ever-present sphere very quickly, but again, Unnamed Village was always a step beyond the norm. Most every pokemon who kept relations with their human trainers were not retained in their ball twenty four/seven, but when an Unnamed went out into the rest of the lands for journeys and tournaments they kept a belt of the spheres. While both sides tended not to like this capture system, it was better not to clash with other land's authorities, since most other societies did not always allow the intelligent creatures to roam. Ranma and Unnamed's village council highly urged their travelers to keep a low profile.

Too much publicity was detrimental to the village's well-being, and the trainers got enough attention just when they submitted their village's name on the tournament papers alone.

Ash and Ferrous crested a small rise in the surrounding grasslands which revealed the snug little village a little ways below their present elevation.

"This is a tactically bad place to put a village, Ash-kun."

The raven-haired teen slid her an unreadable look.

"Yes, so it is. Building your homes in a minor valley would be ill considered."

Happy with her puppy love agreeing with her, Ferrous rushed on in an attempt to further impress him.

"I mean, come on? What morons don't consider flooding, or the lack of advantage that line of sight would give? Ooh, what about if attackers came? The enemies would have the edge if they had long range projectiles or pokemon who could attack from a distance."

With each word, though, her companion became a little more closed, a bit more imposing. The sea-green haired girl slowed to a rambling stop at the disappointed eyes in his implacable face.

"Um, nii-chan?" she deliberately wheedled, using the term he most liked trying to get out of the obvious oncoming lecture.

"Ferrous," his voice coming down on her like stone, as he didn't use any of his pet names for her.

"Before you go casting an entire village into the depths of idiocy, look over at each of the surrounding rises."

When she did so, Ash went on in that same unforgiving tone. "Those towers you see are there to scout the surrounding countryside. Line of sight you said? They have that here, in better effectiveness actually.

"If you will also deign to remember your orientation lessons, the winters in these parts are unusually fierce, and the winds high at most parts of the year. The village planners thought ahead and deliberately did not construct their homes where they would be sure to fail. That means in a depression of the land.

"There is little chance of flooding, the soil here is highly drained. And for your last argument, once we arrive, you will also notice that their guards are almost as highly trained as our neighboring amazons."

Looking very subdued, Ferrous was inwardly kicking herself repeatedly. Keeping herself a step behind the dark teen, she remained silent as a sort of self-imposed penance.

At the gates, the duo were indeed approached by a wary pair of guards while four more covered the gate. Ash showed their passes, and the uniformed guard in front looked critically between the pictures that the people.

Of an older sort than Ash and Ferrous, the two guards' eyes widened when Partis and Pikachu peeked over their trainer's shoulder to get a load of the hold up. They too were feeling the wind's bite and wanted to get inside where it was sheltered.

The guard on the right had a kindly weathered face which lit up when he took in the sight of Ash and his pikachu. Opening his mouth to say something, he was cut off by the guard on the left who blurted, "You're Ash Ketchum!"

The teen in question blinked and then slowly nodded.

"Yes, yes I am. Can I- help you with anything? Are our passes in order?"

The right guard had a grin splitting his face.

"By all means. Everything is in order, won't you come in Mr. Ketchum - and your companion?"

Ash nodded once again and accepted the documents back.

"We'll be leaving tomorrow so you won't have to worry about Team Rocket catching up again. We lost them about a week and a half ago, and I'm sure they don't know where we're headed. I'd like to apologize again about last time I was here, sir."

Both guards shook their heads simultaneously.

"It was no problem at all, Mr. Ketchum. You did Border-town a world of good on that visit. You'll always be welcome back, any time."

Ferrous, who had hung back during most of this exchange asked what was uppermost on her mind as soon as they passed beyond the gates with smiles and nods from all six of the guards.

"You've been here before?"

Looking thoughtful, Ash "hmm-ed" a yes.

"It was just after I started traveling without Brock and Gary. Aside from when I first started out, I always had someone there with me on the road. That time, though, I wanted to get away from everything that was familiar. I had won too many awards and leagues to go anonymous in any of the main lands, so I decided to follow the pokemon borders.

"I spend the last six months before I met my dad along roads like these with only my pokemon for company, and I met up with several towns, just like this on my way.

"The reason I pretty much bit your head off earlier was because you don't know what they go through."

Ferrous arranged her lips into a thinking moue.

"So what exactly do they go through, then, Ash-kun?"

"Come on, imouto, think for a second. These people live on the borders of the pokemon lands where other countries might try to invade. Life is harsh, and there are few luxuries that most people take for granted. They are isolated, have little access to pokemon in general, since they are so far out, have to grow ninety percent of all their food and raise their children without the help of daycares and gyms."

Again he let the silence stretch in an effort to allow the concepts to sink into her head. It wasn't that he was angry with his adopted imouto, but he definitely considered himself disappointed in her. Perhaps his little talk would put things into perspective.

While Ferrous's mental CPU went over this new data, her eyes reflexively noted all of the blind spots perfect for ambushes, places where it would give her the advantage of shelter in case of ranged fire and the few people still out on the street at this time of evening.

Night was falling swiftly on this little homestead, and the shadows crouching near walls and imperfections in the land were growing bolder, stretching beyond their places.

The people that she noticed hurried about their business even as a skinny boy on makeshift stilts was lighting lanterns on the other side of the street. Very few of the townspeople had more than a tiny layer of fat to pad their bones and they all sported sun weathered squint lines that indicated long days outdoors.

Ash was right. These people had it a lot harder than what she thought. It was a testament of their perseverance that they do so well at all.

Still keeping at a pace behind Ash, Ferrous also took this opportunity to gauge his subtle physical cues and utilize a minor variant of her Empathy aura. She was curious as to how he would react to coming back to a place that obviously held memories for him.

What he had mentioned earlier with the guards hadn't been explained yet, and she was hoping he would at the Inn they were staying at tonight.

Speaking of such, Ash led his charge unerringly down the main street and down a side one before coming to a pause in front of a small but tidy looking two story building. In lovingly drawn but faded paint, 'The Cat's Meowth' graced the upper facade with a quirky caricature of a gossipy Meowth to accompany the words.

Holding open the door like any good gentleman would, Ash just rolled his eyes when Ferrous mentally blew the action all out of proportion with her eyes going all dewy and sparkly.

As she swept by him in love's glow, the darkened interior soon dimmed her fervor until her eyes grew used to the decreased amount of light. Just at her shoulder, Ferrous could feel Ash also pausing to adjust.

She blinked up at him when he placed a large callused hand on her shoulder and stepped from behind to approach the bar. Following, she wove between the chairs and tables after him and came to a halt before the long block of waist high polished wood.

The bartender was one of those jolly portly men with thinning hair on top and going grey on the sides. You could practically find one in every city, village or town. And somehow, they all were in the service industry in some way or another. This one apparently owned the inn and the mini tavern below it.

The reason why Ferrous knew the man to be jolly was kinda given when a big grin split his fleshy face and the watered blue eyes light up in recognition. It was the gate guards all over again, and Ferrous wondered if this was standard procedure for her love whenever he revisited a town. The eighteen year old has had so many adventures and training trips that he could almost rival his dad at that age.

While Ferrous was most interested in hearing Ash's exploits of the past, she was not too keen on hearing the preparations of a room for the night, and idle chatter about where they were going in the morning.

To pass some of the time, her gold rimmed eyes scanned the dimly lit room and noted the four figures seated or lounging as was their tastes.

Two women in modest house-wife-ish dresses were seated at a table together, and both had turned curious faces to Ferrous and her escort.

The other two were men, one sitting at the bar nursing a drink, and the other at a table a little off to the side apparently writing something of great interest to him, since he never looked up at the sound of the door opening.

The man at the bar looked haggard and thinly ratty and was appraising Ferrous's looks and budding bosom with a very inappropriate intent. However, when he looked over at Ash to see if he would be any trouble, he gulped a little and turned around almost as quick as a Kadabra can teleport. There is always a little something primal seated at the back of a human's mind that will instinctively tell them to back the hell away when they encounter a wild predator. It is only the fools who ignore this warning, or the mentally inept that are prevented from hearing them. Author coughs, interjecting a 'Kuno' between expulsions of blocked air

Ferrous' eyes, hardened from the look that creep gave her darted back to the women when a new wave of tittering reached her sensitive ears. Barely picking out what was whispered amongst the huddled females, the Unnamed warrior-in-training rolled gold-rimmed brown eyes.

"...so chivalrous, protecting her... famous here..."

"...agree... creep outsider... banned"

"Wonder if Mr. Ketchum is heading in the same direction..."

And then both of the housewives squealed in unison, exclaiming "HIRE THEM AS AN ESCORT!"

Ferrous looked again at Ash to see if he'd heard any of this nonsense, but caught a thoughtful look on his face as he turned away after getting the key to their rooms. It actually seemed as if he were considering this outlandish business proposal.

$&()#$&()$&()

It would take a total of four days to reach the village the ladies wanted, and because of their presence, Ash and Ferrous knew better than to train in open sight. It also kept them on a strict walk during the day, sleep every night schedule. No more running for three days straight while they had company. Not only would it be noticed that they had an extremely odd endurance, but the ladies couldn't keep up.

It was during the first night of camping that the thinner woman alerted Ferrous to a previously unknown pet peeve.

"Why Ferrous dear, now that we're all settled for the night, you can answer some questions I've had bubbling for a while."

Ferrous's brows lowered as she tried to untangle the logic that necessitated her answering this woman anything at all. The plumper brown haired lady's eyes were also on the child, willing her to sit down and indulge the two gossips.

A glance at Ash-kun only merited a helpless shrug. Ferrous sighed and plopped down on a log by the fire with the other women.

"Yes?"

The plump one let out a good natured laugh, and the thinner one chortled with glee.

"Well, I've been meaning to ask you about your darling hair, child. Whatever on earth possessed you to dye it?" the thinner, and unknowingly rude one asked.

Before Ferrous could defend herself, the brunette gasped in a scandalized manner.

"Perci! How can you say that? Don't you recognize a natural oceanic color when you see one? Don't tell me you've lived too long on the other side of the isthmus not to have seen one.

I know they're rare, but two or three come into Bordertown every year or so."

The dark blond thin one widened her eyes in surprise, and then a moment later, grinned uneasily at Ferrous in chagrin.

"I'm truly sorry. Didn't mean to insult you, but Sasha's right, I haven't seen anyone with that kind of hair color who hadn't had it dyed."

Feeling a little better, the Unnamed replied, "S'fine. I don't think I've ever had to defend my hair color before. Since Ash and I live near the Amazon lands, there's always been people around with unique colors and styles."

And then to herself, 'I don't think I like being questioned. Dad has it. Grandma has it. Why should I be called a dye job?'

Ferrous shot a look of pure feminine fury when she caught a snort and muffled chortle coming from the only male at their camp. It was hastily cut off, and she knew the warning had been received.

--------

A.N. Hey guys, I'm definitely being a klepto again, but this time it isn't from Mr. Nguyen's work. Naw, I've diversified, and the basics of Ranma's 18 year old technique was thought up by the author who has the site g r u m . a n i f i c s . c om

Just take out the spaces. And thnx btw for those who left a review letting me know the website didn't show through the first time.

He's got a multi-part storyline, and a rewrite that is just as good as the original, if in a different direction. I really recommend that website. I'd like to take this chance to both apologize to him now, since I've kinda taken without permission, and also since I, for the life of me, can't remember his name. Bad Sierra.


	3. Mantras to Save the Soul

Exchanging Education: Chapter 3

It had been four very long days since Ash and Ferrous consented to escort the village ladies back to their home from Border Town. Ferrous spent much of that time honing her skills... In not ripping her charges' heads off.

"And another thing, Ferrous dear, your clothing is simply, well, outlandish!"

"And a trifle unfeminine, my dear," the skinny one, Perci added, upping 'Ferrous dear's' already high blood pressure.

The very much hen-pecked young Unnamed sped up slightly to walk beside Ash, fuming all the while.

Controlling his own smirk, the wild haired trainer could only offer a platitude he had heard on his travels, and more recently from his father.

"Think of this as a training opportunity, Ferrous. If they can't make you snap, then you're pretty much torture proof."

All this earned him was a pointy elbow in the side as she sped up even further to take the lead. Silence from her corner let poor Ash know that he was now in her black books for at least a day... Or until they dropped off the old biddies.

* * *

On the morning of the fifth day, the little group could see signs of the village on the horizon. This of course, set the biddies all a twitter with gossip about what they bought, how their families would react, and speculation as to what all happened during the ladies' absence.

Ferrous was still treating them with the cold shoulder, and all that Ash would see was a swirl of sea green hair as she would flick her bobbed head away from his attention.

But as the village grew nearer, she inched her way closer to her Ash-kun's side, a joyous smirk twitching across her lips. FINALLY!

While humming some tune she had gotten from her godfather, she happily sang in her mind 'Ding Dong, the biddies gone, the wretched biddies gone!'

For the entire duration of the village ladies' company, Ferrous had made a promise to herself. Within the first fifteen minutes, that promise evolved into an inner mantra which was the only thing that staved off homicidal insanity in the young oceanic trainer. 'Must not kill. No kill. Bad. Ash-kun will train me when they are gone. Gone, gone, Ranma-sama's technique. All mine. Only when they're gone.' Or something along those lines.

Upon reaching the first few houses of the village, both Good-wives, Perci and Sasha turned to thank their escorts. While the skinny one glomped onto Ash's muscular shoulder and stroked it as she said her farewells, the slightly more plump one smothered the taut and twitching Ferrous into a hug. It was only the lack of oxygen to the girl's limbs that kept Ferrous from exploding into violence and kept her quiescent as the fat and skinny one traded places.

As Sasha took her turn plastering herself against Ash, Perci gripped the young trainer with a bony strength as the lady dug into her coin purse. Handing Ferrous the local equivalent of a quarter, the old biddy took one last jab at Ferrous' appearance.

"Do something nice for yourself, eh, dear child? There's so much to fix."

Ash, who had heard that parting shot also pretty much intuited the mental snap from his charge's mind. Leaving a fast stream of 'Yourwelcome, gottago!" he whisked his frothing imouto away and ran for the hills, deciding that the small village was not big enough for Ferrous and their temporary companions to cohabit even a second longer.

Cracked maniacal laughter faded into the distance as the two biddies looked at one another before bursting out into giggles.

"Did you see the look on her face!"

"I know, Sasha. And that young man!" Perci sighed, fanning herself. "If that's the way Unnamed make all their men, sign me up for the next trade caravan!"

"Hmmm," the plump one hummed. "I wonder why the two are heading towards the Kage lands? Especially since Ferrous dear is so young!"

"A tournament perhaps? I've heard rumors about how competitive Unnamed Gym is. I suppose a child of the village would think nothing of traveling such a distance just for comparison."

The two just hummed again in thought, before another glancing at each other and bursting out into laughter again.

Crazy old biddies.


End file.
